James youxg-



' therefrom; and Id the same.

Illuminating a large anion .ters do not i V JAM ES YOUN iMPRUVEMENT IN MAKING PARAFFlN-E Specification forming part of Letters Pa ent No. 8,833,

e, or MANCHESTER, ENGLAND.

dated March 23, 1852.

1'0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES YOUNG, of Manchester, England, have invented improvements in the treatment. of certain bituminous mineral substances and in obtaining products ofhereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of on consists in treating,

such manner as to obtain therefrom an oileontaining parafiine, (which I call paraffi1ic-oil,) and from which oil I obtain paratfine. The coals which I deem to be best fitted for this purpose are such as are I usually called parrot-coal, eannel -coal, and gascoalfiand which are much used in the manufacture of gas for the purpose of illumination, because they yield upon distillation at a high temperature oletiant and other highly I gases in considerable quantity, some coalsdast described contain at of .eatthy matters, those matnterfere materially with the performance of my process. 7

To obtain paraffine-oil from coals I proceed as follows: coals are to be broken into] small pieces of about the size of a hens egg I or less for the purpose of fiicilitating the op- I oration. The coal is then to be put into a com mon gas-retort My said inventi minous coals in and although ugh a refrigerator, and kept at a temperature of about 55 of Fahrenheits thermometer by a stream of cold water. The temperature of the refrigerator should not be made too low, lest the product of the distillation should congeal and stop up the pipe, and I find that a temperature of about 55 Fahrenheit issuiiicient. The retort, being closed in the usual manner, isthen to be gradually heated up to a low red heat, at which it is to be kept until volatile products cease to come oil. Care must be taken to keep tire temperature of the retort from rising abovebut 0ft] low red heat, so as to preterit miieh as possible the de-' distilled ordriven of? from the'coals as avapor lll the an Fahrenheit.

dissolved imp densed into a liquid in passing cold worm-pipe, from which it a vessel, which must be provided will be -con through the will fall into to receive it.

Instead of obtaining afiine-oil by distillation described, a portion of it thought desirable, be through i the whole of the paror driving oil, as just it may in some cases, run from the retort pipe to be provided, part of the retort for that purpose after it has se coal and assumed a liquid form. ever, iu every case to distill-or whole of the paratfine-oil to be 0 the coal. I

The production oft a chargepf coals in a rcto be finished by the liquid 0 the worm. The crude product of this process is an ,oil containing parafliue, which, as I have already stated, I call paraffine-oil. This oil will sometimes, upon coolingata temperature of about40 Fahrenheit, deposit parafiliine. Other arrangements of appa 0 process for obtaining m, as I have described; but I prefer to use tlie apparatus above men; tioned, as being well known and aged; but in order to obtain the] tity of crude of this process, tity of perman I prefer, howdrive off the l tained from he desired products from rt will be known to and produce thesmall ent gas by the actin heat employed, whatever may be the apparatus used, care must be taken to heat the coals gradually and. to apply the lowest temperature necessary to complete the operation. During the distillation or drivingoti' which I have described a permanent gas will be produced, and this gas may either be collec fercd to escapc,as may be thought expedient I purify the crude oil obtained, as already described, in the following manner: I put the. oil into a cistern and heat it (by a steam-pipe or other means) to a temperature of aboutI50 \V hen thus heated water and an:- urities contained in the separate more readily fro and the oil being left i kept warm for about a d purities will fall to the and the oil in rtessel, leaving the residuum behi proceed to distill the oil, for which operation I est quanpara ted from the,

casing to run; from.

ratus may be used for easily manargest quanparatfine-oilfrom coals: by means 11 ot' the V ted or sufbeen well stirred 'to remain at rest for about twelve hours, so

- the oil and water prefer to use an iron still with a worm-pipe connected to it"passing through a refrigeratory apparatus, as before mentioned, the refrigez ator being kept at oraboutthe temperature of 55 -Fahrenheit, as I have already mentioned.

aleaden vessel, where to each one hundred gallons I gradually add ten gallons of the oil of vitriol of commerce.

for about an hour I'allow it that the oil of vit'riol'and impurities with which it has'jcom bined may settle at the-bottom. I

'- theudraw on the supernatant oil into an iron vessel, and to each one hundred gallons I add four gallons of a solution of caustic soda of a' specific gravity 1.300, water being 1.000. The sodaand oil are stirred together for about an hour, so as to neutralize any acid which may remain inthe oil, and also take up any impurities capable ofcornbinin g with it, after which -the contents of the vessel are allowed to remain at rest for about six or eight, hours, so that tlie'solutio'n of soda may subside, and,then

the supernatantoil is to be drawn oil and again distilled in the same manner as I have already described. Paraffineoilobtainedfrom-thelastmentioned distillation contains a fluid more volatile than 'paraffine, and I separate a considerable portion of this fluid from the oil and obtain it in a separate state, as follows: I put the oil into an iron still connected with awormpip.e.-pa'ssin g through a'refrigeratory apparatus, adding to the oil halt its bulk of water, and'boilingthe contents of the still for about twelve hours, adding water from time to time, so asto keep about the same proportions of in the still. The volatile fluid will pass over along with steam, and can be condensed in the worm-pipe by the refrigeratory apparatus. This fluid will be clear and transparent, and as it is lighter than water it separates, on standing, from the water with which it will be mixed asvit leaves the wormpi pc of the still. This fluid maybe burned for thepurpose of illumination or applied to any other useful purpose to which it may be applicable. The last-named process will the greater portion of the volatile fluid I have mentioned from the oil; but a larger quantitymay be separated by prolonging the operation. The oilleft in the still after the completion of the process lastly described is then to be carefully separated from all the remaining water (upon which, it will float) and conveyed into a leaden vessel, where to each one hundred gallons I add two gallons of oil of vitriol. This mixture is to be well stirred for six or eight hours, after which I allow it to stand undisturbed for twenty-four hours in order that the vitriol may settle to the bottom of the leaden After this mixture has of parafline separated from the oil.

separate vessel,-'cairying with it all impurities with whichfit has combined. The supernatant oil is now to be drawn oil into another vessel, and to each one hundred gallons thereis added twenty-eight pounds of chalk, ground up with a. little water into a thin paste. The oil and chalk are then to be well agitateduntil the oil becomes freed from sulphurous acid. This oil is to be kept warm-say at -100 Fahrenheitin any convenient vessel 'for about a week to allow impurities to settle, and it is then fit to ,be used for lubricating purposes, either by itself or mixed with an animal or vegetable oil; or it may be burned by itself in Argand lamps for the purpose of illumination; and this oil may be further purified, it required, by distilling it over again. 7

To extract parafiine from the purified paraffine-oil obtained in the manner I have described, the oil is to be cooled to a low temperature-.- say to 30 or 40 Fahrenheit-and the lower the temperature the larger will be the quantity In this way parafiine is made to crystallize, and in this state it may be separated from the oil by filtration through woollen or other cloths, and then squeezing-it on a powerful press, bywhich means it will be made suifieiently pure to be employed for lubricating and some other useful-purposes but the paraffine may be further purified,it' required, by treatingit several times at a temperature of about 160 Fahrenheit, alternately with its own bulk of oil of vitriol, and with a similar quantityot a solution of caustic soda, (of tho specific gravity already mentioned,) until the parafiine ceases to'render the oil of vitriol black. It-is then to be washed in a weak solution of soda, and lastly with boiling water until the water ceases to change the color of red litmus paper.

To obtain paratfine from parafiine-oil I sometimes put the oil into a still and distill over onehalf or more of its contents. The portion then remaining will contain a much larger proportion of paraffine than the parafline-oilat first put into the still contained. ing then distilled over into a separate vessel and allowed to cool, paraffine maybe separated by filtration and squeezing in cloths, and also purified by treatment with oil of vitriol and soda, as before described. Paraffine-oil from which paraffine has been separated, as above described, still contains paraffine in solution,-'

and is suitable for lubricating orlighting purposes, as already mentioned.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters'Patent, is-- The obtaining of paraffine-oil, or an oil containing paraffine, and paraffine from bituminous coals by treating them in manner here- JAMES YOUNG.

'inbefo're described.

Witnesses:

Enw. WM. BURNEY,

Manchester, Solicitor. Joan FALL, His Clerk.

This residue be- 

